1

Conference Management Problems

Bill Hamel

RAS Conference Board Meeting

ICRA 2005, Barcelona, Spain

April 22, 2005

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Traditions…

Select key assignments carefully. Give Organizing Committee latitude. Conference Board oversight:

Financial expectations; active advisory capacity. Budget scope and details Surplus target Registration fees, hotel rates.

Hotel/locations: Adequacy. Pricing and contracts.

Organization and execution – suitable progress.

3

Potential Problem Sources

Conference in general: organization, venue, services, and costs.

Technical program: paper reviews and processing program structure

Local arrangements: venues and services

GC

LAC

PC

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18 Years…

1987 Raleigh 1993 Atlanta 1999 Detroit

1988 Philadelphia 1994 San Diego 2000 San Francisco

1989 Scottsdale 1995 Nagoya 2001 Seoul

1990 Cincinnati 1996 Minneapolis 2002 Wash DC

1991 Sacramento 1997 Albuquerque 2003 Taipei

1992 Nice 1998 Leuven 2004 New Orleans

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Clear Opportunities for Improvement…

Consistency in process/mechanics “Re-invention of the wheel”

Paper review software Student workers organization Technical program creation

More effective capture of “lessons learned.” Real-time financial analysis/reporting CB: discussions, awareness, but insufficient

implementation

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Approach

Augment existing CB structure to bring focus to technical program consistency and coordination. Will also allow enhanced focus on general

program issues. Add human resources Expect improvements and hold Conference

Activities accountable

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Conference Activities

Steering Committee for General ProgramsVP-CA, Chair

Steering Committee forTechnical Programs

Chair

Conference BoardT.J. Tarn

Vice President for Conference Activities

Conference proposals and approvals

Sponsorship proposals and approvals

ICRA, IROS general oversight

Financial expectations

General practices and standards

Post conference review and records keeping

Paper review standards and processes

Technical Programs Manual

Reviewer databases

Standard software, databases, keywords.

ICRA technical program oversight

Quality expectations

Post conference review and records keeping

Proceedings standards